Scarlett Johansson Terrified to Assume Elizabeth Taylor’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Role on Broadway

HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 27: (L-R) Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson arrive at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre on February 27, 2011 in Hollywood, California., By Dan MacMedan/WireImage.

If you are Scarlett Johansson, this is shaping up to be a very busy week. In addition to touting The Avengers, this weekend’s long-awaited superhero ensemble film in which she plays Black Widow, and getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, the 27-year-old actress has revealed she is close to reviving one of Elizabeth Taylor’s most famous roles. It was first reported last month that Johansson, who won a Tony in 2010 for her work in A View from the Bridge, was considering a Broadway encore in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, possibly appearing opposite Avengers co-star Jeremy Renner. In today’s Variety, Johansson discusses her involvement in a new staging of Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play with near certainty: “I cannot wait absolutely to get to it. I’m exhilarated, I’m terrified, but I think in a good way.” As Maggie the Cat, she’d join ranks with Kathleen Turner, Elizabeth Ashley, Ashley Judd, and Debbie Allen, among other actresses who’ve portrayed the role onstage.